Afriqiyah Airways (8U, Tripoli Mitiga) is planning to venture beyond the Sahara Desert once more with reports that it is considering resuming flights to Dakar Yoff-Léopold Sédar Senghor International and Accra "in the near future." The news comes after the Nigerien Government recently asked Tripoli to resume flights to Niamey as a means of increasing its connectivity to the Europe and the Middle East. Afriqiyah, Arabic for "Africa", abandoned its extensive, if largely unprofitable, sub-Saharan African routes following the fall of Muammur Gaddhafi and his regime in 2011. Since then, a combination of diplomatic indifference (and even hostility) to the new Libyan government coupled with economic factors, have seen Afriqiyah and its sister airline, Libyan Airlines (LN, Tripoli Mitiga), focussing largely on the North African, Middle Eastern and European markets.